Air Force plane crashes in southern Brazil, killing 8

[News_Editor]

Air Force plane crashes in southern Brazil, killing 8

2011-08-03 08:23:33 GMT+7 (ICT)

SAO PAULO (BNO NEWS) -- A Brazilian Air Force plane carrying eight people crashed in southern Brazil on early Tuesday afternoon, killing everyone on board, officials said.

A spokesperson for the Brazilian Air Force said the accident involved a C-98A Grand Caravan plane which had taken off at 11.45 a.m. local time from an airport in Canoas, the fourth largest city in the state of Rio Grande do Sul.

Nearly two hours later, at 1.27 p.m. local time, the aircraft with eight people on board disappeared from radar during its flight to Rio de Janeiro. The wreckage of the plane was later found in the town of Bom Jardim da Serra in the state of Santa Catarina.

"The Command of the Air Force regrets to inform that there is no evidence of survivors from the C-98A Grand Caravan plane crash which occurred in Bom Jardim da Serra today," Brigadier Kanitz Marcelo Damasceno, a spokesman for the Air Force, said, adding that the aircraft and crew were part of the 5th Airlift Squadron of the Air Force.

"The Air Force Command has initiated investigations to determine the factors which contributed to the accident in order to prevent future accidents," Damasceno said, giving no other details.

On July 13, sixteen people were killed when a regional jet flying for Brazilian airline Noar Linhas Aereas crashed in northeastern Brazil. And in late April, seven people were killed when an Amazonaves Air Taxi crashed shortly after takeoff from Eduardo Gomes International Airport, just west of Manaus, the capital of the state of Amazonas.

And in July 2007, nearly 200 people were killed when TAM Airlines Flight 3054 crashed upon landing in Sao Paulo. It remains the deadliest ever aviation accident in Latin America history.

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